There hasn't been much info on the Trasko filter, so I thought I'd let everyone know how it works.
The can is cast aluminum, with fins on the outside for relatively good heat dispersion. The oil first passes through a mini roll of toilet paper. I compared the size of the tube in the center, and it is identical to the I.D. of a regular roll of TP. It appears more tightly wound than some of your softer rolls of TP.
Whatever the TP roll can't handle gets routed through a mesh screen. A spring loaded valve opens up on the core to let the oil pass this way. This is similar to the dual remote bypass valve setup that Amsoil uses. According to their website. this screen filters down to about 8-10 microns. From the looks of this screen, flow shouldn't be a problem through this screen unless you're trapping one sh!tload of crud.
This filter doesn't have a totally unfiltered bypass mode. But given the design, I can't see why you'd need one unless you kept the filter in way too long. And since you inspect (and clean) the screen each time you replace the TP element, you would likely get a pretty good feeling about whether you're plugging this screen up too much.
Overall, it looks pretty good. The good news is it looks pretty easy to make my own filter replacements by cutting up some 1-ply TP rolls. The bad news is I think I'm going to rig up an oil pressure gauge to make sure that I get good pressure through this thing. Their website claims that the bypass typically only opens up on surges, like when starting a car with a cold engine.
Their website claims that the bypass kicks open between 85-90 PSI, thus posing the same concern that has been hashed around with the Amsoil dual remote bypass setup. I'm mounting this filter on a Toyota Highlander with a 3.0L V6 engine. If this backpressure doesn't cause the engine's pressure relief valve to open up wide, then I should get good oil pressure at startup. That should be the most critical time for this filter.
[ January 05, 2004, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: slalom44 ]
The can is cast aluminum, with fins on the outside for relatively good heat dispersion. The oil first passes through a mini roll of toilet paper. I compared the size of the tube in the center, and it is identical to the I.D. of a regular roll of TP. It appears more tightly wound than some of your softer rolls of TP.
Whatever the TP roll can't handle gets routed through a mesh screen. A spring loaded valve opens up on the core to let the oil pass this way. This is similar to the dual remote bypass valve setup that Amsoil uses. According to their website. this screen filters down to about 8-10 microns. From the looks of this screen, flow shouldn't be a problem through this screen unless you're trapping one sh!tload of crud.
This filter doesn't have a totally unfiltered bypass mode. But given the design, I can't see why you'd need one unless you kept the filter in way too long. And since you inspect (and clean) the screen each time you replace the TP element, you would likely get a pretty good feeling about whether you're plugging this screen up too much.
Overall, it looks pretty good. The good news is it looks pretty easy to make my own filter replacements by cutting up some 1-ply TP rolls. The bad news is I think I'm going to rig up an oil pressure gauge to make sure that I get good pressure through this thing. Their website claims that the bypass typically only opens up on surges, like when starting a car with a cold engine.
Their website claims that the bypass kicks open between 85-90 PSI, thus posing the same concern that has been hashed around with the Amsoil dual remote bypass setup. I'm mounting this filter on a Toyota Highlander with a 3.0L V6 engine. If this backpressure doesn't cause the engine's pressure relief valve to open up wide, then I should get good oil pressure at startup. That should be the most critical time for this filter.
[ January 05, 2004, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: slalom44 ]